I Tied Up the Travel Check-In System - Chapter 2

In fact, Tang Siqi and her bestie usually buy fruit from Uncle Liu’s shop downstairs. Although Uncle Liu’s fruit doesn’t have a wide variety, it’s fresh and cheap.

The fruit at this branded fruit shop is beautifully packaged and well-proportioned. They have a lot of imported fruit, but the prices are much higher.

When Tang Siqi walked in, the clerk enthusiastically introduced her.

“Miss, we have a promotion in our store today. A box of J-grade cherries is only 158! Look, our J-grade cherries are almost as good as the JJ-grade ones in the supermarket. They are very fresh. You can try them.”

After that, she brought out a tasting plate and asked Tang Siqi to taste it.

The cherries she tasted were not whole cherries, but carefully cut into small pieces.

This fruit shop sells expensive fruits, but the quality is indeed impeccable.

Only J-grade, Tang Siqi looked at the better quality cherries next to her with an indifferent expression.

The clerk smiled and said, “JJ grade is certainly better than J grade, but there’s no JJ grade promotion right now. A 5-jin box costs 298 yuan. I recommend buying J grade. It’s a great deal today.”

Tang Siqi checked her phone again. It did indeed say she could redeem SSJ grade cherries.

She clicked on the redemption page.

“Are you sure you want to redeem a 5-jin box of fresh SSJ grade cherries?”

Tang Siqi selected yes. ”

Congratulations, your redemption is successful. Please go to any of the listed merchants to make your purchase.”

Tang Siqi turned off the screen, looked at the clerk, and took a deep breath. “Give me a 5-jin box of SSJ grade cherries.”

Her heart ached. That was 399 yuan a box of 3J grade!

If it were instant noodles, it would be enough to keep her alive for a long time…

If this app didn’t reimburse her, she’d probably cry her heart out.

But for some reason, she still wanted to take a gamble. She had to have a dream. What if… what the hell?

The clerk was momentarily stunned, then a warmer smile appeared on her face. “Miss, did you just say you wanted a box of SSJ-grade cherries? The triple-checked ones? A box of 5 jin is 399 yuan.”

Tang Siqi gritted her teeth and nodded, “Yes, that’s right.”

The clerk quickly shut up. A wealthy woman had arrived, so no wonder she looked down on the J-grade cherries, even refusing them even on sale. It turned out she wanted the triple-checked ones.

She quickly brought over a box and opened it for Tang Siqi to inspect. Not a single one was rotten. All were plump, over 30mm in diameter, and all were deeply colored. They looked delicious.

Tang Siqi swallowed hard, “That’s it.”

After checking out, Tang Siqi looked at the text message alert, feeling almost heartbroken.

“[China Construction Bank] Your CCB card (**6666) made a purchase of RMB 399.00 on April 10th, leaving a balance of RMB 3,880.00.”

Only a little over three thousand left?

As she walked out of the fruit shop carrying the box of cherries, her phone vibrated again.

Tang Siqi nearly jumped when she saw the screen.

“[China Construction Bank] RMB 399.00 was credited to your CCB card (**6666) on April 10th, with a balance of RMB 4279.00.”

Ahhhhh!

Surprisingly! Really! It’s reimbursed!!!

Tang Siqi’s joy lasted only a few seconds before she heard the old woman downstairs yelling. She had come to Shanghai for college, and all she could understand from her fluent Shanghainese was the “non nao wa tuo le” (non nao wa tuo le) “Nong nao wa tuo le” (non nao wa tuo le).”

But from her movements, she could tell she was being snarky about knocking over all the boxes in the hallway while coming downstairs.

Tang Siqi was in a very good mood today, and she was jumping and skipping as she walked. She went over to the old lady and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll come over to clean up and will definitely put your box back in its place. Grandma, I bought cherries, let me share some with you.”

The old lady was stunned and didn’t take the cherries.

She watched Tang Siqi start to work and began to whisper, “Oh, these young people don’t know how to save money?” After Xu Qianning sent her son to kindergarten, she bought some more goods and brought them back. As soon as she reached the stairs, she saw Tang Siqi cleaning the corridor.

She couldn’t help laughing: “You got up early today and cleaned the corridor. That’s great.”

“Hey, don’t mention it. I made this mess. It’s already cleaned up. Let’s go home.”

After that, Tang Siqi helped Xu Qianning carry a big black plastic bag home.

Xu Qianning was her childhood best friend. They both came to Shanghai from small towns. Xu Qianning was two years older than her. After a divorce a few years ago, she became a single mother in Shanghai with her son. To care for her son, she started selling accessories through WeChat, going to Chenghuang Temple every morning to stock up. The first two years were tough, but things are much better now.

Tang Siqi worked in her hometown after graduation, but quit last year to stay home as a freelance artist.

It was okay at first, but being unemployed in her hometown was too hard. Relatives pointed out and criticized her. During the Spring Festival, she was compared with her peers. Others had successful careers, cars, and houses, others studied abroad and married in style, and others had two children in three years. But she… was older, unmarried, jobless, and a total homebody…

So her parents started to lecture her about three meals a day and ordered her to find a job and go on blind dates after the New Year.

Tang Siqi couldn’t stand it anymore and called Xu Qianning to complain.

Xu Qianning simply laughed off Tang Siqi’s worries.

“What’s that? I’m worse off than you. Older, divorced, raising a child, unemployed. Oh, and I don’t have any education. When I got pregnant with Junbao, I didn’t even finish college. Siqi, things will get better and better.”

So, after a big fight with her parents, Tang Siqi came to Shanghai and became Xu Qianning’s roommate. The monthly rent, utilities, and internet bills totaled about two thousand yuan, and she also ate with Xu Qianning. They had originally agreed to share the food expenses, but Xu Qianning said her income from painting wasn’t stable yet, so she refused to accept her food expenses.

Although the cost of living was indeed higher than when she was in her hometown, the advantage was that she could finally do what she wanted to do.

Xu Qianning only saw the box of cherries on the coffee table after she returned home.

“Siqi, did you buy this?” Xu Qianning walked over. “Wow, it’s a three-tie one! How much did it cost?”

Tang Siqi chuckled and said, “It’s a free gift. It’s free.”

Xu Qianning was incredulous and opened the box. “Wow, wow, it’s so big! It’s much better than what we usually buy. A box of this good downstairs must cost at least three hundred! Where did such a good gift come from?”

Tang Siqi blushed. “It’s just… a gift from the customer for a previous order.”

She made up an excuse, and Xu Qianning didn’t doubt it, knowing that Tang Siqi didn’t have much money.

Tang Siqi said, “Junbao loves cherries, and now he can have as many as he wants.”

“Yeah.”

Xu Qianning couldn’t help but smile at the mention of her son.

Tang Siqi washed two plates of cherries and gave one to Xu Qianning: “You have one too. You usually don’t want to eat them.”

She carried the other plate into the room, popped a cherries into her mouth, and took a bite. Wow, so sweet!

The small cherries I usually eat are often bland, but the box I bought today is truly exceptional.

Tang Siqi picked up her phone again and logged into her mobile banking account to check her balance. It was still 4,279 yuan. Sure enough, it wasn’t an illusion; the system had indeed transferred the money for the cherries.

Tang Siqi couldn’t contain her excitement as she began to explore this magical gold coin mall.

She hadn’t expected anything to be redeemed here, from small items like rice and bread to large items like houses and cars.

So, completing system tasks meant the gold coins could be used to purchase real-world items, and the money spent would be reimbursed by the system?

This was like reaching the pinnacle of life!

Tang Siqi excitedly opened her taskbar, but it was completely blank.

She sighed. When would this taskbar refresh?

She glanced at her lifespan countdown again. Only 23 hours left…

Okay.

Tang Siqi sighed, opened her computer, and clicked on a document. Inside was her unfinished line drawing. Today was the deadline for the client’s submission, and she hadn’t finished it yet…

Now, Tang Siqi was a professional artist.

The profession of professional painter is divided into many levels.

Those at the top of the pyramid are called “big shots,” top-tier art directors, with annual salaries starting at one million.

Some lesser-known artists can easily earn tens of thousands for a single thick painting.

However, for those at the bottom of the heap, like Tang Siqi, who’s just starting out, known as “rookies,” their earnings are hard-earned money.

For example, the current commission she’s received, for a painting of an ancient figure, is priced at 100 yuan, already her highest ever. Normally, she only takes on line drawing and coloring work, earning only a little over 10 yuan. Total monthly earnings are just over 4,000 yuan.

Of course, before officially starting work, Tang Siqi inevitably checked Weibo for a while, catching up on the latest entertainment news, then Douban, following a few interesting new groups.

Finally, she checked her Moments for a bit.

Dad was sharing something on WeChat Moments again: “Three Necessities of Taking the Civil Service Exam” and “Do you think the civil service exam is just about the benefits? In fact, there are five hidden benefits!”

Tang Siqi: “…”

It was obvious that these were all for her to see. Tang Siqi turned off her phone in annoyance and stopped looking at it. She went back to work.

However, Tang Siqi stared at the computer screen and drew for a while, then her brows furrowed slightly. Well, I always feel that this drawing is still missing something.

The drawing that Tang Siqi took over was a character in ancient style. The line drawing of the character was not a big problem, but the costumes always felt wrong.

She opened the folder of materials she had collected and searched around but couldn’t find anything suitable.

She remembered a fairy tale TV series that was popular recently. The costumes and props in it were extremely exquisite, and there were many costumes that could be used as references, so she opened the video software. Coincidentally, her membership had not expired yet, so she started watching it happily.

This time she watched it, episode after episode.

The hero and heroine met, the heroine lost her memory, the heroine ran away, the heroine fell in love with another woman, the heroine finally discovered that the person he liked was the heroine, and the heroine fell in love with someone else again…

“Oh, oh, oh… Why do lovers have to suffer such torture?” Tang Siqi watched the TV series for most of the night, her eyes almost blinded by tears.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Tang Siqi didn’t even turn her head: “Come in.”

The door creaked open, and a little person walked in. Seeing Tang Siqi who was watching the TV series, the expression on her face suddenly became serious: “Tang Siqi, why are you watching TV series again? Have you done your homework?”

Tang Siqi glanced at the watch. Oh no, it was already five o’clock in the afternoon. She had originally planned to watch the TV series to collect materials, but she didn’t expect to watch it for half a day. She turned around and looked at Luo Junbao. The little boy had his arms folded, his little eyes staring at her, his little mouth couldn’t help but pout, with a stern look.

“I haven’t done it…Okay, okay, I’ll do it now…This isn’t homework, this is work!” Tang Siqi argued, feeling guilty.

Luo Junbao shook his head and sighed, “I knew you didn’t do it. My mom told you to eat first, then do your homework.”

He was about to leave when he returned, prying at the door, his fingers tangled and struggling. After a long pause, he spoke, “Tang Siqi, I heard you bought me cherries. I tried them, they’re delicious. Thank you…”

With that, he quickly ran off.

Tang Siqi looked back, only to see Junbao’s fleeting figure. She couldn’t help but smile. Junbao might have a sharp tongue, but he was adorable.

Returning to her computer, Tang Siqi felt a pang of panic as she thought about the unfinished line drawing. Then she figured the deadline wasn’t until midnight, and after dinner, she still had a few hours. Even though she was a bit rushed, as long as she didn’t procrastinate, she should still be able to finish it.

Just as she was congratulating herself on perhaps having enough time, her phone buzzed again.

[Congratulations! You have a new mission: Please go to the old lady’s noodle stall at No. 255, Zhoudong Road, Yangpu District, to enjoy a bowl of braised pork noodles. The mission must be completed within 3 hours.]

Tang Siqi: “…”